How realistic is having a tank with vacations?

[Schraufabagel]

I usually go on two vacations each year (ranging from 1 to 2 weeks). I’m also frequently away at least 1 or 2 weekends each month. What would you advise for equipment on a tank between 20 - 40 gallons? This would influence if I went for a sump or AIO.

Skimmer overflow sensor, refugium, leak detector, auto doser, etc? I will have a temperature sensor (such as Inkbird) regardless.

I plan to keep soft, lps, and easy sps (such as stylophora and pavona)

 

[alysak6075]

the only hard part is how to feed.

I'm around one of my tanks once a week. So I have skimmer with ANC, draining into a sewer.
Auto doser with ATI essentials pro.

Top off happens manually when someone comes around to feed.

Need a battery power backup.

Feeding is the hard part for me.

 

[mdb_talon]

In my experience the most vital piece of "equipment" is someone you trust that you can call to address any issues that your gadgets warn you about. Needs to be someone who actually understands reef aquariums as walking through troubleshooting with the 12 year old neighbor probably gonna be tough

 

[Dilan Patel]

I leave my tank for months at a time... My tank runs itself basically. Fish are fed by automatic fish feeders throughout the day. 1 of them with seaweed pellets for tangs and other with a all around pellet food. Skimmer is running dry and emptied every month or so. Dosing is taken care of by a dos for alk and calc allowing for adjustments made over internet and the other elements I dose are done through a jeabo dp4. I use 1 gallon jugs for holding dosing chemicals. Everything is monitored by an apex allowing for quick on and off programs to take place. Only thing that has to be done is fill up the ATO container every week to 2 weeks. No waterchanges are done EVER.

 

[Tamberav]

If you want someone to check up on the tank that has experience you can hire someone that does maintenance on reef tanks. It's about $30 a visit here. I would do it for longer vacations, not every day but a few times while I am gone. I have some fish that absolutely need frozen food though.

I also would recommend one of those cameras where you can see the tank from an app on your phone.

 

[Kal93]

I second a camera. We added an orange filter to ours and positioned it to view both tanks. It gave us peace of mind to see that everything was okay.

 

[W00F]

I’ll likely buy the cheapest refrigerator on Amazon and do something like this for feeding:

It’s a good design and doesn’t seem too hard to make.
I would use a cheap doser and less food selection however.

 

[sawdonkey]

I’ve left for months at a time too. I set up a camera in my sump so I can see what’s going on. I use a pellet feeder. I set up a brute trash can with water for ATO. Then once or twice a week, I have an experience buddy stop by and feed frozen food, look things over, test alkalinity, and tweak bubble rate on calcium reactor if needed. $50 a pop for him. I fairly frequently leave for 3-5 days at a time and don’t have anyone stop by.

 

[Azedenkae]

I usually go on two vacations each year (ranging from 1 to 2 weeks). I’m also frequently away at least 1 or 2 weekends each month. What would you advise for equipment on a tank between 20 - 40 gallons? This would influence if I went for a sump or AIO.

Skimmer overflow sensor, refugium, leak detector, auto doser, etc? I will have a temperature sensor (such as Inkbird) regardless.

I plan to keep soft, lps, and easy sps (such as stylophora and pavona)

Going away for a weekend is alright, that won't really change anything. A week or two is longer. If you have fish, you probably need a auto fish feeder of some sort. Then, you need an ATO to top up water during that time. Best to test that they are all working before actually going away.

Everything else I don't know. XD

 

[TerraFerma]

It costs money but if you get your ducks in a row your pretty fail safe (or at least you have tried your best)

-Tunze ATO (the expensive one) - only ATO that hasn't taken a dump on me

-Eheim Auto feeder

-Manual timer for lights (the wifi powerbars cannot be trusted)

-Turn off the skimmer to avoid overflows

-Inkbird temp controller, with the cool socket attached to a fan pointed at the top of the water

-As others have mentioned, make sure this all works reliably in concert for a few weeks before you leave town

 

[polyppal]

I usually go on two vacations each year (ranging from 1 to 2 weeks). I’m also frequently away at least 1 or 2 weekends each month. What would you advise for equipment on a tank between 20 - 40 gallons? This would influence if I went for a sump or AIO.

Skimmer overflow sensor, refugium, leak detector, auto doser, etc? I will have a temperature sensor (such as Inkbird) regardless.

I plan to keep soft, lps, and easy sps (such as stylophora and pavona)

An Apex has alleviated a lot of vacation stress for me. Can check the status of the tank whenever you want from the app, and even setup a webcam to see it live.

I have a pet sitter for my cat, and automatic feeders tied to the apex. She pretty much just have to make sure the ATO has water and let me know if something looks strange, but she doesn't need to mess with the tank or feed.

 

[camostore]

I leave my tank for months at a time... My tank runs itself basically. Fish are fed by automatic fish feeders throughout the day. 1 of them with seaweed pellets for tangs and other with a all around pellet food. Skimmer is running dry and emptied every month or so. Dosing is taken care of by a dos for alk and calc allowing for adjustments made over internet and the other elements I dose are done through a jeabo dp4. I use 1 gallon jugs for holding dosing chemicals. Everything is monitored by an apex allowing for quick on and off programs to take place. Only thing that has to be done is fill up the ATO container every week to 2 weeks. No waterchanges are done EVER.

I also leave for 4 to 6 weeks and follow the same as Dillan but add camera on display, Lacrosse wifi temp sensors in display, inkbird wifi in 300 gl stock tank and stand by generator

 

[rusty hannon]

After reading the question and some serious thought I have my answer, and don't believe 90% will like it but here goes, you can currently take care of you're tank on vacation the same way many do daily, to which I think is sad and IMO not true to heart fish r reef keeping but folks whom are just interested in having or keeping up w the crowd. To me personally, its cheating and lazy and lost in tech. These folks have rubber floors and freak if a child touches the glass, let alone trying to ,help by sneaking n to share their cookie, ( that just happened to me and yes he got spanked and on reflection who was the a#$%&$# here and who was tank keeping). Sorry I feel that way( I'm really not in any way) but as a forum you asked. I Won't b reading posts replied to this as I'm not interested in a verbal fight over the computer. ( it too would b chicken $%#& so please call me to meet for coffee if you Really feel you must) but that's just my opinion . thank you and happy reefing.

 

[Dbichler]

the only hard part is how to feed.

I'm around one of my tanks once a week. So I have skimmer with ANC, draining into a sewer.
Auto doser with ATI essentials pro.

Top off happens manually when someone comes around to feed.

Need a battery power backup.

Feeding is the hard part for me.

Only thing about running a skimmer into sewer line is what something gets caught in the intake and it continuously overflows then the salinity would drop and everything would die if gone for 2 weeks. My skimmer does this about twice a year.

 

[malacoda]

ATO
large rubbermaid tub you can place next to the tank full of RODI water before you leave
autofeeder
doser for alk and cal (if you're not already using one)
timer for lights (if they're not programmable)

Then, just turn off your skimmer and remove any filter floss.

I've left my 24g and 65g completely unattended for up to 4 weeks at a time. Always been fine.

 

[Reefguy13]

I'm on vacation now and go away for a lot of weekends. An apex is a must. I did vacation without one one time came home and ATO stuck on and over filled my tank. Now I can monitor and get alerts and turn things off quickly. Also good to have someone that can get to your house quickly if needed. I have an auto feeder and a trident to measure things. I want to get a wyz cam like many people have mentioned as well. I have an apext atk with the float valve so I feel there is enough fail safes on that and will prob add a 3rd sensor and a sensor in my ATO. I would go with a tank that has a sump vs aio.

 

[Schraufabagel]

An Apex has alleviated a lot of vacation stress for me. Can check the status of the tank whenever you want from the app, and even setup a webcam to see it live.

I have a pet sitter for my cat, and automatic feeders tied to the apex. She pretty much just have to make sure the ATO has water and let me know if something looks strange, but she doesn't need to mess with the tank or feed.

I don’t have the budget to afford a full apex system unfortunately. I’m thinking about getting a CoralVue Hydros system thought for ato, temp control, leak sensing, and shut offs for pumps if needed. Would that be a decent way to come close to what an apex system can do? I wouldn’t have automated testing, but can still have a doser for 2 part at least

 

[Schraufabagel]

I leave my tank for months at a time... My tank runs itself basically. Fish are fed by automatic fish feeders throughout the day. 1 of them with seaweed pellets for tangs and other with a all around pellet food. Skimmer is running dry and emptied every month or so. Dosing is taken care of by a dos for alk and calc allowing for adjustments made over internet and the other elements I dose are done through a jeabo dp4. I use 1 gallon jugs for holding dosing chemicals. Everything is monitored by an apex allowing for quick on and off programs to take place. Only thing that has to be done is fill up the ATO container every week to 2 weeks. No waterchanges are done EVER.

What dosing would be necessary for those spans? Can I get away with only alk and calc? Or would magnesium be necessary be needed too?

 

[Schraufabagel]

the only hard part is how to feed.

I'm around one of my tanks once a week. So I have skimmer with ANC, draining into a sewer.
Auto doser with ATI essentials pro.

Top off happens manually when someone comes around to feed.

Need a battery power backup.

Feeding is the hard part for me.

What do you use for your battery backup?

 

[alysak6075]

What do you use for your battery backup?

I use a PC UPS and the reefbreeders coralbox v2 backup battery. Its overkill for me. Ive lost power for 3 minutes in the last 5 years. But i still like the “insurance” of backups. Also if/when i need to cut power at the breaker the backups take over for that time.